Chapter Fifteen
Elise clung to Jamie as they galloped at full pelt down a hillside and up the next, driving the horse to as great a speed as he dared.
She kept her arms clamped firmly around his waist to keep from being thrown off every time the horse jolted or they changed direction.
But in truth, she was gripping him a little harder than strictly necessary.
She clung to him as though she was drowning and he was the only thing keeping her head above the surface.
The aftermath of using her power had left her weak and woozy and she was still struggling to work out exactly what had happened back at the cove. It had all happened so quickly.
Perhaps she should have been pleased that she’d been proven right and discovered the pirate base and the conspiracy behind it.
But she wasn’t. She wasn’t pleased at all. Because it meant that Islay was in deep, deep trouble.
As they moved steadily south, she couldn’t help glancing back over her shoulder.
Part of her expected to see king’s men riding after them, but the landscape behind remained empty.
Hopefully, she’d managed to confuse their trail enough to give them a decent head start before Phillip and his cronies figured it out.
She had no doubt they would be coming. They could not let Jamie escape.
He was central to the king’s plans and without him, everything would fall apart.
She bared her teeth in a snarl. She would not let them have him.
The weather began to change as they rode, and thick black clouds came scudding across the sky. Jamie glanced up grimly but didn’t comment. Before long the clouds blocked the sun, leaching all color from the land until it seemed like they rode through a monochrome photograph of grays and blacks.
Then the rain hit. It came hissing out of the sky without warning, lashing down with enough force to make Elise gasp.
Great. Just bloody perfect.
But Jamie grinned savagely and glanced over his shoulder at her. “Fine Islay weather, eh? This is good! It will wash away our tracks and stop them from following!”
Elise’s teeth were chattering too hard for her to answer. She only tightened her hold, feeling the cold leach deeper into her bones.
By the time they reached the south coast, the world was a smear of gray, sea and sky and rain all blending together. The wind howled across the cliffs, carrying salt and spray. The horse was stumbling with exhaustion and Elise wasn’t much better.
Jamie guided them down a narrow path towards a cluster of old fishing huts wedged between two rocky spurs. Most of them were collapsed ruins. One, however, still had its roof and four solid walls.
They rode up to it and Jamie jumped to the ground. He put his hands around her waist and lifted her down, her legs nearly buckling when her feet touched the ground.
“Inside,” he commanded.
Elise didn’t bother to argue. While he took care of the horse, she pushed open the half-rotten door and went inside.
The cottage’s interior consisted of a single room with a flagstone floor and a large fireplace at one end.
It smelled of damp wood and seaweed and spoke of long abandonment.
How long since anyone had been here? Years, she guessed.
She wrapped her arms around herself, shivering uncontrollably.
Jamie entered a moment later, letting in a blast of wind and rain before he slammed the door and wedged it closed.
He glanced at her then strode to the hearth.
He knelt, fingers moving with swift, practiced surety—gathering dry wood from a small pile left in the corner and stacking it with the instinct of a man who had grown up on wild shores.
She watched him. Even soaked to the skin, hair dripping, jaw set in grim determination, he looked utterly in his element.
A spark flared. Then another. Within moments he’d coaxed a flame into life, sheltering it with his hands as it caught the wood. Warmth—weak but glorious—began to fill the tiny room.
“Come sit,” Jamie ordered gently. “Ye are freezing.”
Elise slumped by the fire gratefully, pushing wet strands of hair out of her face and trying unsuccessfully to stop her teeth from chattering. She was exhausted, too tired to use her magic to dry them, and the cold seemed determined to chew its way right through to her bones.
Jamie crouched in front of her, concern marring his handsome features.
He took her hands in his, chafing them hard.
The friction burned, but she didn’t protest. The feel of his skin against hers was like a balm, bringing warmth back into her frozen tissues, easing some of the tension that was knotting her muscles.
“You should be a masseur,” she said with a wry smile. “You’ve got the knack.”
He didn’t return her smile. His eyes were shadowed, full of pain.
“Jamie?” she asked. “What is it?”
He didn’t answer. He continued rubbing her hands but didn’t raise his head. She placed her hand over his to get his attention.
“Jamie. Talk to me.”
He stilled. “Elise,” he whispered, his voice hoarse with emotion. “I am ashamed.”
“Ashamed? Jamie, none of this was your fault—”
He lifted a hand, stopping her. “Ashamed of my lack of judgment,” he said quietly. “Of trusting Phillip so completely. Of letting him so close. I put every man, woman, and child under my protection in danger because I didnae see the treachery right in front of my eyes.”
“Jamie—”
“Let me finish.” He lifted his gaze to hers, and the rawness there made her chest tighten.
“But more than that…” His voice broke slightly.
“I’m ashamed because I didnae trust ye. Because when ye told me yer suspicions, I doubted ye.
I doubted the woman who has come to mean more to me than life itself. ”
Rain hammered the roof. The fire crackled softly. And Elise held her breath.
“But the worst thing of all is how close I came to letting ye go, of letting Phillip MacClelland’s poison infect me and giving up the one thing that makes me feel alive.”
She no longer seemed able to speak. Her chest and throat felt so tight she could barely breathe. But she forced herself to swallow, to work up enough saliva to force out words. “What are you saying?”
He reached out, cupped her face with his big hand.
“The reason I came after ye wasnae because I thought ye were in danger. Lord knows I’ve learned ye can look after yerself.
I came after ye because I had to tell ye what was in my heart.
I couldnae go through with it, Elise. When I saw that marriage contract this morning, I realized there was no way I could ever sign it.
Not when my heart belongs to another.” His thumb brushed across her cheek.
“Ah, lass,” he said softly. “I’ve been trying to keep it at bay all this time.
Trying to be the laird everyone needs me to be.
Trying to put my duty before everything else.
But I canna do it. It will break me if I dinna admit the truth. ”
Elise’s heart fluttered against her ribs like a trapped bird. “What truth?” she whispered.
“The truth that I am in love with ye. The truth that ye own my heart and always will.”
His eyes burned with a fierce intensity.
“I love ye,” he repeated softly, fiercely.
“From the moment ye walked into my life at yer sister’s wedding.
Every day since, I’ve found myself wanting ye.
Needing ye. Ye are all I think about.” His breath shook.
“And I will never forgive myself for making ye doubt what ye mean to me.”
Her vision blurred. Her throat burned. “Jamie…” She felt something inside her break open—all the anger, hurt, fear splintered into pieces—letting in the light that shone behind it.
For so long she had been bracing herself against what was growing between them, against the impossibility of it all, against the crushing weight of wanting someone she believed she could not have.
But here he was, storm-stung and exhausted, telling her he loved her as though it was the only thing that mattered.
Elise lifted a trembling hand to his cheek. His stubble was rough beneath her fingertips. “I love you too,” she whispered. “I tried not to, I really did. But it happened anyway.” Her voice caught and she had to swallow a few times before she could continue. “I love you so much it hurts.”
Jamie closed his eyes, just for a heartbeat, relief carving through every line of his face.
“Elise…” He said her name like a promise.
She didn’t wait for anything more. She leaned forward and kissed him.
It was meant to be gentle, but the moment their lips touched, something fierce and aching and unstoppable surged between them so strongly that Elise could taste it like the charged air before a thunderstorm.
Jamie’s arms went around her, drawing her into him as though he feared the storm might sweep her away. In response, she clutched his shoulders, feeling the heat of him even through their soaked clothes, feeling him tremble slightly—not with cold, but with emotion held too long, too tightly.
The kiss deepened, slow and searching at first, then urgent with everything they hadn’t said, everything they’d nearly lost. The fire threw warm light across Jamie’s skin, highlighting the contours of his face, the hollow at the base of his neck.
The world outside might be chaos and danger and betrayal—but inside this abandoned cottage, for Elise there was only this moment and this man.
Her hands slipped into his hair, fingers curling in the soaked strands as he kissed down the line of her jaw. Her pulse roared so hard she felt dizzy. Jamie inhaled sharply against her throat, and the sound sent a shiver straight down her spine.
“Jamie…” she managed, barely more than a breath.
His hands fumbled with the ties of her dress, urgent, demanding. Then he was shrugging her out of it, and she gasped as the chill air hit her bare skin. But Jamie was there immediately, hands warm, mouth warmer.